Group items tagged

This article talks about eradicating extreme poverty, one of the Millennium Development Goals. Unfortunately, 1.2billion people in the world live in extreme poverty, which is unacceptable. McConnell attributes most of this unfortunate predicament to unstable and fragile political governments, where members of society are continually sieged in turmoil. Although one of the Millennium Goals have been achieved early, elimination of extreme hunger, poverty is still a perpetual and prevalent issue that the USAID plans to rigorously tackle.

A new poll shows that India's economic recovery may not go according to plan. The country aimed this year to keep the fiscal deficit at 5.3% of Gross Domestic Product, .5% lower than last year's. Reuters polled 21 different economists to get their opinion on the matter, and most agree that India's higher spending on fuel and fertilizer subsidies could keep the country from reaching its new goal. Because of this, it seems likely that India's credit rating will soon be downgraded from BBB- to a "junk-bond" status.

Very interesting article on one how a goal of economic development hinders economic growth

Denmark has introduced what is believed to be the world's first fat tax - a surcharge on foods that are high in saturated fat. This article is an example of normative economic reasoning as the governments have a goal to improve the country's health which would lead to a better economy.

This article focuses on the upcoming challenges and goals of the United Nations climate talks in Doha, Qatar. The talks aim to discuss how to remedy global warming that could lead to a planet up to 6 degrees warmer in the future. To do this, carbon emissions must decrease by about 5% each year. Topics at the talks may include current issues of greenhouse gas pollution and deforestation, especially with improvements of the carbon market. Businesses may soon face strong encouragement to accept these proposals, as climate change begins to result in not only impact on society but also private costs of businesses. These externalities, previously external but becoming increasingly internal, may soon force large business leaders to reconsider their impact on the environment.

This article deals with the delicate balance between inflation that is too high or too low. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis, James Bullard, argues that the current inflation rate (1.3%) may be getting dangerously close to reaching deflation. Although the unemployment rate has remained higher than 7%, the inflation rate is well below the comfortable 2% goal kept by the Federal Reserve. If the issue becomes preventing deflation, the "Fed" should instead use policies to increase the money supply rather than adopt "tight" money supplies that slow inflation and economic growth.

This article highlights the complex relationship between inflation and unemployment by pointing out the effect that each has on the well-being of individuals. A recent study showed that a whole 4 percent increase in inflation leads to the same amount of unhappiness as an only one percent increase in unemployment. Inflation and unemployment have always been considered inverses, in other words as one increases the other decreases. However the author of the article points out that the goal of central banks should be to keep unemployment as low as possible, instead of inflation, because of its widespread "misery" effect.

Although inflation makes people unhappy, it turns out that unemployment makes people unhappier. The country's "misery index" is extremely high.

The current Prime Minister of Australia, Toby Abbott, is currently negotiating with China to potentially open up free trade between the countries. Australia hopes that an agreement will be reached as he plans to travel to the country in early 2014. The goal of opening free trade would be to not only strengthen the relationship between the two countries but also to allow greater economic growth to occur.